This morning I was considering buying a lottery ticket, I went onto the site to see how easy it was to purchase online. A page link at the bottom caught my eye...There is a list of unclaimed prizes on the National Lottery website and someone bought a ticket for the draw on the 31st May for the Euromillions Millionaires raffle in the Ladywood District of Birmingham. That person is the owner of the £12 million and apparently they are totally unaware. If they don't quickly remember to check their ticket the money will be lost to them forever.
This got me thinking. How many of us fail to see the value in things before it is too late? How many times have we left things to the last minute through laziness or an assumption that it won't matter only to find that we have missed out? £12 million is a huge amount to lose, it might stay with you for the rest of your life that feeling of how things could have been so different. The resentment might grow and grow and your life could instead change for the worse - just because you didn't pay attention to the small things that ultimately could have huge impacts.
I know that there have been times when I have not followed opportunities up, believing them not to be worthwhile or to be so time consuming that I wouldn't be able to make them happen or that I thought wouldn't turn out to be beneficial - only to find that someone else did and they were incredibly successful as a result. Or missing a meeting that later turned out to be an offer that I would have been so excited about but was no longer open because I had not shown the commitment or interest level required. As a result, I have long since tried never to turn down an opportunity at first glance but to follow it through until I could come to a decision based on more than just 'do I have time?', 'do I have the energy?' etc.
Sometimes it seems that small things won't ever matter - not checking that lottery ticket for example....'I'm never going to win anyway, what is the point?' The point, I suppose is that you never know, you never know what might happen until you try, until you ask, until you get to know someone, until you take a risk. Maybe your business idea is not going to work, maybe you will have less money and this will never improve, maybe your family will suffer as you work harder and earn less, maybe it will all go wrong. The question is not 'what if it all goes wrong?' but 'do I really want this?' If you really want it and it serves your ideas of where you would like your future to go then try it. Try talking to someone that is in your industry that you would like help from - they might tell you where to go, or they might turn your life around. If you don't ask, someone else will and if they get the answer you wanted and you miss out you have lost more than just the slight embarrassment that comes from asking or getting a 'no' answer.
As an analogy, life is a bit of a lottery, you don't really know how it is going to turn out but as it say's on the adverts 'you have to be in it to win it'. There is absolutely no chance of winning/getting what you want, if you refuse to take part, you have sealed your fate already, you have made up your mind that you will not win. Making a small investment on a regular basis though could end up netting you millions. I'm not suggesting the lottery as the answer, there are far better ways to invest your time and money! Invest it in you, invest it in your future but be sure to take part.
Don't take the small things as unimportant, make the calls, reply to the emails, follow up your curiosities, keep doing what you love without any response being necessary and for goodness sake...if you bought a ticket in Birmingham, CHECK IT!!!!
Please circulate this to anyone you know who might own the ticket as well - how amazing would it feel if we could make their dreams come true by getting their £12 million to them!
Love Nova xxx
Have you ever found yourself missing out on something? What was it?
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